Story+1980-12-29+Uniondale,+NY

“Alright, how you doing tonight? (crowd cheers) oh yeah…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”**

“I grew up in this town that’s about 40 miles outside of New York City (crowd cheers) but…it’s like when you come, when you come from a small town or some place like...I remember all the time I was growing up, it seemed like New York was a million miles away ...and I used to watch, as I got older, I used to watch my friends and...people I went to school with...seemed like they got stopped in one place and were letting, were letting their lives, their lives pass ‘em by for some reason...I guess when you grow up in a small town for some reason you get, you get scared of big things...you’re scared of big cities or...I remember my old man grew up...he was born in that town and the only time he left was when he went to World War Two...he came back, married my mom...and he took on responsibilities of being a husband and a father when he was still... he was still very young...and I remember all the times that we were...we were living in that house and having our arguments, he wasn’t...he was only a little bit older than I’m right now, he was still a young man...but he’d given up a lot of things and he’d been disappointed a whole lot of times...and I would watch him every day get up and go to work and he’d come home...and he’d sit in the kitchen at night...and he never talked to me unless he’d had a little too much to drink or something...and then the things he’d say...I remember he’d be yelling at us at night and he’d be sitting in the kitchen and the next day he’d take you out for a ride and he’d take you out and try to make up for it, buy you something...growing up like that, you look around and it, it makes you scared and gives you a lot of fear...and some of it, some of it’s good because...when I was real young, I got real scared of ending up that way...seemed like people just lose their spirit or lose their belief that, that there’s certain...that if you get out there, there’s certain possibilities... nobody can guarantee you nothing and nobody can promise you nothing but you got a chance...when I was real young, I decided I wasn’t gonna miss out on that chance...so don’t you, don’t you miss out on it either, ok? (crowd cheers)...”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Independence Day”**

“If you gotta do something and you need some help (crowd cheers) two hearts are better than one…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Two Hearts”**

“Alright…this is for Bobby and the Rockies…this is for Billy…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “The Promised Land”**

“(Crowd cheers) I’m here, I’m here (chuckles)…(tests the guitar and harmonica a bit) this is, uh…(long pause)…this is a song that, uh, there’s a book out right now, it’s called “Woody Guthrie – A Life,” it’s by, it’s by this fellow named Joe Klein, Joe Clean* and, uh…it’s really, it’s really a great book and this is…this song was originally, it was written at the time it was, uh, written as an angry song, it was an answer to Irving Berlin who’d just wrote “God Bless America” and, and…and this song was written as, as an answer to that song, it was written as an angry song…and, uh…it’s just about one of the most beautiful songs ever written, anyway (crowd cheers) I’ll do this for you…” [* Bruce pronounces “Klein” wrong.]
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “This Land Is Your Land”**

“This is for little (?) and Gary…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Thunder Road”**

“Alright (crowd cheers) we’re gonna take a short break now, then we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna rock you all night long (crowd cheers) so you better be ready (crowd cheers)…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, after “Thunder Road”**

“We can’t stop now…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Sherry Darling”**

“We can’t stop now…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Hungry Heart”**

“Bring it down, boys…now I wanna know…how did Santa Claus treat you? (crowd cheers) how about you? (crowd cheers) pretty good? (crowd cheers) (?) little presents…well, I just wanna say…Merry Christmas, Baby…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Merry Christmas Baby”**

“Oh, I’d like to ask everybody a favour…if, uh, if you got any presents and stuff, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t throw them up on stage ‘cause when we walk – especially back here, you guys can’t throw stuff at us (chuckles) when we go off stage, we appreciate you wanting to give us the stuff but it’d be nicer if you held on to it so that we didn’t get bobbed on the bean with it, ok? (crowd cheers) so, so if you got stuff, please hold on to it, alright? thank you…when I was, I moved out of this town called Freehold when I was about 18 years old (crowd cheers) I never thought I would hear the day when anybody would applaud for Freehold, alright (chuckles) and I moved down to Asbury Park and (crowd cheers) I never thought I’d hear ‘em applaud that either (chuckles) and I lived in this, this apartment, it was three flights up over this drugstore on Cookman, Cookman Avenue and, uh (crowd cheers) and that was where I met all the guys, most of the guys in the band and stuff and…so if there’s anybody that hiked all the way from the Shore (crowd cheers) here’s to you, here, here you go, alright…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Sandy”**

“This is for everybody riding in the backseat (crowd cheers)…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “For You”**

“Oh, last year...the guy that, that, that does these lights for you every night and for me for ‘bout I guess at least eight years now... he’s about the best that there is actually (chuckles)...he got married and we all went out to his wedding in California...we were sitting there...during the service, it was in a temple and the rabbi got up and he said...said that till, till you go out and make that connection with somebody, until you meet a girl or you go out and meet just a friend or a person, that all the things that you dream about when you’re a kid and all the fantasies that you have of making your life as complete as it can be they just stay dreams and fantasies and the first step to making those things real is with going out and touching somebody and meeting somebody (crowd cheers) and…it’s like a song...it’s like I used to think if I sit in my room and write a song, well, that song don’t mean nothing till somebody hears it (crowd cheers) but it’s pretty hard to...when you find somebody, you meet somebody that it’s so good, the hardest thing is...is to be...is to be able to give and take and make a good thing last, you know...but if you don’t, you end up...if you don’t make that connection, if you just, you know, I used to like stay in my room and write a song, if, if you don’t go out and make that connection, you end up, end up just being like a ghost, like nobody can hear you, nobody can see you...it’s like...I think people...people should be...it’s like...anyway, I don’t know...”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Stolen Car”**

“This is, uh…this is a song we haven’t done in a real long time…(?) …this is, uh, I hope I remember all the words, alright, I might not, I just learned them (?)…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Incident on 57th Street”**

“We got with us tonight…a galaxy of celebrities…a stage full of stars…beginning at the far left…Professor Roy Bittan on the piano (crowd cheers) on the guitar, Miami Steve Van Zandt (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the drums the Mighty One, Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) and last but not least (crowd cheers) how can I say it?...king of the world (crowd cheers) master of all things, big and small (crowd cheers) emperor of the universe (crowd cheers) faster than a speeding bullet (crowd cheers) more powerful than a locomotive (crowd cheers) able to leap tall women in a single bound (crowd cheers) is it a bird? (crowd: “No”) is it a plane? (crowd: “No”) what’s that (?) (crowd: “Clarence”) the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone (crowd cheers)… (...) Well, this is his last chance and you can tell him that I ain’t no bum...’cause my brand new record, Rosie, made it all the way to number one, one, one, one…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, middle of “Rosalita”**

“This is for all the New Yorkers (crowd cheers)…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Jungleland”**

“I wanna thank everybody for coming down tonight, thank you very much (crowd cheers) I know a lot of you guys have been to some of the shows in New York City and travel around to see us a lot so thank you, thank you…(?)…here’s to you…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, intro to “Born to Run”**

“Great God almighty…I’ve been attacked…(crowd cheers) that’s nice …I see a train coming on ‘round…I see a train coming on ‘round… coming along and it’s gonna take us, it’s gonna take me and my baby down…I hear a train coming along…train, train, train, train just coming along…yeah, it’s coming and it’s gonna take us, it’s gonna take me and my boys down…I hear a train, long and black … train, train, train running long and black…it’s coming and it’s gonna take me (?) bring me back…hold it (the band stops) I hear a train (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I hear a train (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I hear a train (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I hear a train (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) all aboard (band joins in)…come on, boys…I see a long smokestack…a conductor dressed in black…he’s calling out…Ann Arbor, Michigan – all aboard…Detroit Michigan…all aboard…San Francisco…all aboard …Dallas, Texas…all aboard…Baton Rouge, Louisiana…all aboard… Washington D.C…all aboard…Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…all aboard… Philadelphia, PA…all aboard…Asbury Park, New Jersey…all aboard …Long Island, Long Island…all aboard…New York City, New York… New York City, New York…New York City, New York…New York City, New York…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, middle of “Detroit Medley”**

“Merry Christmas, Happy New Year (crowd cheers)…”
 * 29.12.80 Uniondale, NY, after “Detroit Medley”**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//